Spent 25 days on the route. Flew out of Talkeetna on the 21st. One team member developed HAPE at 11k which caused a two day detour to return him to base camp. We reached the 14k camp on the 28th and spent the next 13 days sitting around waiting for good weather. Very few teams and no guided groups summitted during this time. I skied the headwall section of the route on the 1st of June - a couple inches of powder over pretty steep blue ice - and hucked the bergschrund at the bottom of the lines. An exciting descent! Finally things cleared and two of us moved to 17k in the evening and headed for the summit the next afternoon. I reached the summit after 5-5.5hrs and skied all the way back (with a couple of short bootpacks on uphill portions) in 7hrs RT on Day 21. Our other partner tried the next day but turned around at Denali Pass. We descended all the way to Base Camp that night and then sat around waiting for clear weather for three days to fly out. Finally caught a ride on the 14th.

Climbed the West Butress route on Denali and reached the summit on day 16 of our climb. Moved on some marginal days low on the mountain which put us high on the mountain. We summited on our 2nd day at high camp. Spent 2 days walking back to base camp and then waited another 24 hours for visibility so the pilot could fly in to get us. Great climb.

Soloed Cassine do not do this ! it is not worh ypou life . ok now that the wrning is over . I havev no idea why i soled that ridge it is not easy or even fun just pain hard climbing and a dangerous aproach . Ski in then attach skis yto yourvpav ck this becomes a PITA on the route . c capmp out around 16,00 ther isa small ledge and a incdrible view . climband i mean climb o\n mixed ground that is very steep I am guess 60 degreess plus in places . . when you get up to about 18,000 stop and lokok down and ask your self why you did that and check your sanity Therest of the route is seemingly easy after your adventure on a tough mixed route

Now you area bout to meet every one else as if you are sumiting so is everyones else who isabove 16 K on the peak at least on the west side of the peak If you ant go down west buttress or if you are a real;l good skier i am not ski down it A faster way dwon i liked much better asi could get food anda bigger tent left at the 14,300 ft Enjot a good meal take phots taplk rest up wait for a good day if you haveto then ski down to "Kahtina Intenational z" ie base camp and where you startd from look up and be in awe of this astound peak promise yoursel to comeback if youhave time go take asire if possible in the park and just take itall in hear wolves and see grizzlies and eagals soar just beond words ! Rick

Enjoyed this climb, even after spending 6 days at 14,000 foot camp due to bad weather. In a party of 5 who were successful, although it get a little gritty at the end there. Mother nature came to the rescue and the high winds died down allowing us to push to the summit.

It took me 12 days to get to the summit because of two days of acclimatization at 15,000 feet and two days waiting at 17,000 for a better summit weather day. I have reached the summit on May 25, 2000. Solo climb.

We had a window, and three out three made the summit on Saturday the 24th. Thank-you to all the other climbers for giving away there extra food/fuel to make our lives more comfortable. We where able to wash our hair and clean-up at 14,000ft.
On the way down we did get caught at Windy Corner in very extreme white-out conditions. I guest the mountain just wanted to know how lucky we are to be alive.

After fourteen days of ascending the West Buttress our expedition, Three High Climbers, reached the summit at 10:18 PM. We were the only group of the day to have somewhat clear skies, for at least a few thousand feet, while on the summit. I would estimate that around 50 people summitted on the 14th. We did not have to wait at 14K for good weather as long as many of the groups did. Thanks to Pavel and Kris for hooking us up with some extra fuel at 14K before they descended!

West Buttress:
After spending 9 hard nights enduring a hard Denali storm at 17000'. The weather broke giving us a zero-visibility light-wind day which was good enough to summit. After one more night at 17, we began the descent which was mostly uneventful. Of course there were awesome views when the clouds parted briefly and of course there was immense discomfort while carrying 60lbs down the fixed lines. We gave away 7 days worth of food at 14 camp then flew off the mountain a few days later.

Having only one day of good weather in the forecast, instead of moving the camp to 17K I decided to go solo from 14K to the summit. I started late, at 2 PM, and summited at 12:45 AM, then got back to the camp at 5 AM - 15 hours round-trip. It was suppose to be the acclimatization climb before doing West Rib, but due to many days of bad weatherit was the only climb I did.
It's a great mountain and I hope to return there some day.

Third try in seven years. Climbed with my brother Tony from 14k camp to summit and back in one day - very exhuasting. Beautiful views and weather until the summit - a total whiteout. Priceless life lessons learned on this mountain. Had the privelidge of climbing with two fantastic members and climbers family and friends - thanks Tony and John.